Shiny New Bits!!!

[Drift]

[Sir-Doris]

Wont be shiny for long

While I was out today all the elderly neighbours were walking past enquiring how Im getting on with the truck. Lots of 'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' and saying things like 'its very big already' and 'I could never drive that' and 'why do you want it bigger' etc. Forgot to mention that one of the elders dogs (a small ratty thing) piddled on my wheel while it was off the car. Just another excuse to bring the power washer out I suppose

Oh, also forgot that I still have all the fluids to change.

[Drift]

Filling the gearbox is fun

Oh and spill some diff oil on the ratty dog, believe me it wont be back

[Sir-Doris]

Gearbox is a piece of wee, just time consuming. Take a large funnel, cable tie a piece of hosepipe to it drop the pipe down through the engine bay and into the filler plug. Bucket underneath to catch all the drippy bits, fill to your hearts content (or at least until the gearbox is full), wipe off the drippy bits, replace filler plug and bobs your nieces cousin or something.

[Drift]

I just used and oil suction gun to fill it

BUT while doing it was chatting and missed the hole oil everywhere

[Sir-Doris]

Next on the list is a winch and manual hubs. Might be a while though.

[Sir-Doris]

Righteo then. The rear coils spacers are on, looking good already. All the calipers are now dry and fitted new piston seals, dust seals and slider seals. Both front calipers are on and looking... errrr... red. Put the RHD one on today in the freezing cold. I had rain, hail and snow all at the same time hampering my progress. All the brake lines are on. Just waiting for a break in the weather so I can fit the rear calipers. Cant wait to check out the new improved (hopefully) brakes.

On a sidenote. I have standard length front shocks which I bought from Milners a year and a half ago. They are KYB jobbies, cheap and cheerful but well balanced for off road and road use and seem to be of solid construction. Anyway, I noticed that with the low profile droop stops in place and the front of the car jacked up that the shocks still have some play in them before they hit full extension. This I figure is good news as now I will only have to get a set of rear +2" shocks. On full compression with the 31" tires on there is just enough space for them to clear from lock to lock.

I thought someone might find this a useful piece of info before they head off and order longer shocks for the front, my reasoning being, is there enough travel in the IFS to warrant +2" longer shocks without new Upper Control Arms etc???

Anyone have anything to say on this?

Note that I havent fitted the ball joint spacers yet and have opted for just the ball joint flip until I realised that there was more travel available in the standard shock. I was waiting for manual locking hubs before I put the BJ spacers in. I will experiment over the next few weeks and see.

I will put the font shock part numbers up tomorrow when I fit the rear calipers. The rears (also KYB standard length) are definately limiting the downward travel of the suspension and will have to be replaced for proper articulation.

[Drift]

Yup on the front the shocks should be ok as ifs wont let them travel that far, but as long as with the bj flip and lower bump stops they are not bottoming out, you should be ok with your shocks.
A word of caughtion though, get the tracking done as this will pull you wheels in like this \ / and cause tyre wear on the outer edge, you can flip the bj's but it cant push the tyre out if the trakrods are tight
Trust me I know
You will need to do a few hundred miles but you will notice a slight more wear on the outer edge ot the tyre.

So even with the bj spacers you wont cain uless the trackrods are adjusted

[Sir-Doris]

Good info re: trackrods. Went for a drive earlier today and all seems nice and tight after the BJ's have been replaced. That knocking that seemed to be coming up from the drivers side has stopped as well. That was deffo a BJ problem then although I had it for 5 years. Steering is good, and with the lift there is no noticeable difference in handling. I know its not the most accurate of measurements but the front wheels visually at least appear to be vertical. Will get it in for an allignment check this week. The lads at the local ATS are all 4x4 buffs and always seem willing to help out.

Brakes are a funny thing though. Even with the braided lines they feel a bit spongy even after bleeding 4 times using almost 2 liters of brake fluid. Braking performance is the same if not marginally better then before I replaced the lines but I was expecting a firmer pedal. This may be due to the sliders (both front and rear) being able to slide properly though, and before you ask I did bleed the brake balance valve.
Any ideas on the brakes? Il post in the brakes section later.

All in all Im mightily impressed with the improved look and feel of the vehicle. I just need another few hours of good weather to get all the niggly bits sorted out. Rear wiper only working when brake pedal is depressed (suspect it was caused at Cowm when I knocked my towbar electrics), rattly sound coming from the centre console and dashboard below 2k rpm, correctly adjust handbrake (a reminder of Cowm) and find out why my driving lights arent coming on (happened a few days before Cowm).